US officials are continuing with an agreement that bars the government from probing past tax filings from President Donald Trump and his businesses, according to a person familiar with the matter, while a plan to set up an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is on hold.
President Trump has named Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as the acting director of national intelligence after Tulsi Gabbard resigned from the position. NBC News' Gabe Gutierrez reports on the appointment and Pulte's past work in the administration.
Russia carried out a large-scale drone and missile strike on Ukraine, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than a hundred.
The Trump administration abandoned a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund created through a Department of Justice, or DOJ, settlement with the Internal Revenue Services, or IRS, over the President's leaked tax returns. The fund was designed to compensate individuals who claimed improper prosecution, with multiple of President Donald Trump's allies indicating they would seek payments. In his latest Substack essay, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman characterized the retreat as Trump's "biggest self-inflicted wound of Trump 2.0," noting the President was "pinned between a rock and a hard place." The fund became "politically radioactive" after reporters questioned Republicans about potentially paying individuals convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6 insurrection. Litman warned Trump could face "serious lumps" from the MAGA base approaching the midterms. He added, the retreat represents a public defeat for a president whose political brand centers on bravado and winning, though the full parameters of the reversal remain unclear as of the report."All of that amounts to a richly deserved comeuppance for Trump’s staggering audacity in trying to make the American people not just pardon but financially reward the most serious assault on American democracy since the Civil War," Litman wrote. Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
Democratic lawmakers are airing their frustration Tuesday, after President Trump appointed Bill Pulte to serve as acting head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Trump named Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency )FHFA), to replace Tulsi Gabbard after she resigned from the office last month. “Bill Pulte is…
The new order appears to be a scaled-back version of the order Trump initially intended to sign recently.
President Donald Trump named Bill Pulte to oversee the entire national security apparatus of the United States. He will serve in the job while also remaining in his current job as Federal Housing Finance Agency Director. This adds to Pulte's other job, chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.Pulte has a history of using his government position to aid Trump's retribution campaign, targeting Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Cook was never charged by the Justice Department and James' charges were dismissed. You know, to call this appointment an unorthodox one, I think, would be an understatement," said senior CNN reporter Kevin Liptak. "You know, he's the heir to a construction company, fortune. He's been in this mortgage role for the last year or so. What he is, is a real, true Trump loyalist. You know, he's a frequent guest on Air Force One and at Mar-a-Lago. And what you've seen him doing is leveraging this role that he's in at the mortgage agency to try and go after some of Trump's perceived enemies..."While the Cook efforts have failed, Liptak said that it has likely "engendered an enormous amount of goodwill towards him by the president."He noted the seriousness of the Director of National Intelligence post, overseeing 17 intelligence agencies. The post was created after Sept. 11, 2001, when a report found there was intelligence ahead of time that an attack was imminent, but that bureaucratic silos prevented the various intelligence agencies from connecting all of the dots. Liptak said that Trump has relied more on the CIA for international intelligence than he did on Gabbard. "He looked to her to, sort of, go after some of his obsessions, whether it's to try and advance claims of voting fraud, whether it was to try and downplay allegations of Russian election meddling," said Liptak. "This, I think, suggests that the president will put in this position someone who has gone after this retribution campaign, who has advanced some ideas of vindication against some of his enemies. [Trump] doesn't say whether he will be appointing him to the permanent job, but because Bill Pulte was already approved by the Senate for his current job, he will be able to stay in this position for quite some time."CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked whether the White House had yet to explain what qualifies Pulte to run the nation's intelligence apparatus."The only qualifications that the White House has specified is what President Trump is pointing out on his Truth Social, which is what he calls experience 'managing the most sensitive matters in America,'" Liptak said."I do think you can read into what Pulte has used his job to do as how President Trump views the DNI position," Liptak continued. "He has used his access to the mortgage information in his current position to go after Trump's perceived enemies. And I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that he would use his access as the intelligence director to also potentially advance the retribution campaign. That has been the most prominent way we have seen Bill Pulte act in the job that he is currently in."Trump, he explained, has put a "premium on trying to go after his enemies, but also has been frustrated that [it's] not been particularly effective or particularly quick so far in his term."It's one of the reasons Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Pulte, wrote Will Neal for the Daily Beast in November, "has reportedly made such a song and dance of pandering to the president that it’s starting to drive other aides insane."
President Donald Trump appointed Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, tapping him to manage the entire national security apparatus of the United States. The "unorthodox" pick reportedly came from longtime GOP operative Roger Stone, Semafor reports.According to Semafor, MAGA forces joined together to convince Trump that, despite his lack of intel experience, Pulte could still manage the 17 intelligence agencies that the post oversees. Pulte will serve in the job while also remaining in his current job as Federal Housing Finance Agency Director. This adds to Pulte's other job, chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.What Stone, Trump and other MAGA allies believe is that Pulte can use his "attack-dog mentality" in "waging an internal war to ramp up the declassification of sensitive information," according to the Tuesday report.“He’s like a bulldozer,” said a source familiar with Pulte when speaking to Semafor about Pulte. “Bulldoze the bureaucracy and accelerate document releases and declassifications.”Stone is best known for his ongoing loyalty to former Republican President Richard Nixon, whom Stone has tattooed on his back. The self-described "dirty trickster" has remained a close confidant and informal adviser to Trump since the 1970s and became a key part of the 2020 "Stop the Steal" movement. He was later convicted on seven counts of lying to Congress and obstruction of justice relating to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Trump commuted his sentence before Stone served a day in prison. He was later pardoned. He's also known for his conspiracy theories and spreading unfounded rumors about Trump's critics. CNN reporter Kevin Liptak commented after the announcement that Pulte has used his post as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to target some of Trump's foes. "This, I think, suggests that the president will put in this position someone who has gone after this retribution campaign, who has advanced some ideas of vindication against some of his enemies," the reporter said.Semafor noted that the biggest barrier to Pulte will be the U.S. Senate. For him to take on the job, Trump needs the votes and right now it doesn't appear he has them. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, “I don’t see any evidence of his qualifications for that job, but I’m willing to listen.”“We don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) also told reporters on Tuesday. “If he’s somebody we want in that position permanently, he’s got a lengthy road ahead of him.”Stone wouldn't comment on the record about his involvement in picking Pulte, Semafor reported. The one positive of the nomination, a banking lobbyist told Semafor, is that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Pulte don't get along. With Pulte otherwise engaged, Bessent will be able to focus on housing issues. “If I was Bessent, my wheels are turning right now, like: ‘What can I accomplish in the housing space while I have this open field?’” the banking lobbyist said.Democrats appear ready for a fight. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a statement about Pulte on Tuesday, saying, “Today, President Trump is rewarding his lackey — who has no national security experience — with a perch atop our nation’s intelligence community. What could go wrong?”
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that Bill Pulte, a “home-building heir” who currently oversees the Federal Housing Finance Agency, would step in as acting Director of National Intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard. The decision has drawn swift bipartisan criticism over Pulte’s total lack of experience and what is viewed as an effort to “weaponize” the U.S. intelligence apparatus. "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there," declared Senator Majority Leader John Thune (R-SC). “If he's somebody we want in that position permanently, he's got a lengthy road ahead of him.”Fears over weaponization stem from Pulte’s previous efforts to target Trump’s enemies. As the head of the FHFA, he used his position to suggest criminal charges for mortgage fraud against the likes of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook — all of whom drew the president’s ire over various incidents.With all this in mind, Senator Mark Warner, a top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, shared Thune’s sentiments, blasting at length: “This appointment speaks volumes about what this president expects from the nation's top intelligence official. Rather than selecting a respected national security professional capable of delivering independent judgments, the president has chosen an official who has demonstrated not just willingness but eagerness to use the authorities of government to pursue political retribution.”“Americans have already seen Mr. Pulte use the powers of his office at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to pursue the president's grievances and lend credibility to dubious prosecutions of President Trump's perceived political opponents,” Warner continued. “Elevating him to oversee the Intelligence Community makes clear that this president is not looking for an intelligence leader who will follow the facts or speak truth to power, but rather someone who will be willing to shape intelligence around the president's wishes, regardless of the cost to the American people.”What’s more, Warner took issue with Pulte’s bona fides, or lack thereof, arguing, "The concern is not only that Mr. Pulte lacks the ‘extensive national security experience' required by statute for the job, which was created after intelligence failures led to the deaths of thousands of Americans on 9/11. It is that he appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need. Americans have every reason to worry about what happens when the official charged with overseeing everything from counterterrorism to foreign election threats is chosen for his willingness to advance the president's political agenda rather than his experience. That is how intelligence becomes politicized, how inconvenient facts disappear, how agencies charged with protecting our democracy instead become tools to manipulate it, and how Americans are left more vulnerable to a terrorist attack."Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) put it more simply: “I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job.” And Senator Angus King (Independent-ME), who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, rounded things out, “By any objective assessment — in terms of experience, expertise, background — this appointment makes no sense.”Journalist Chris Hayes summed up the collective assessment well, posting, “This is so utterly insane I’m at a loss. But it makes sense if you want to turn the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus into a tool for domestic persecution and domination.”